Thierry's take control in buyout

Published: 09 February, 2009

The UK's leading independent wine importer has taken full control of its business in a share buyout.

Thierry's has carried out a buyback of South African wine company KWV Ltd's shares in its business.KWV's, portfolio will continue to be distributed by Thierry's. The company held a minority stake in Thierry's. Control of Thierry's will now rest with five UK shareholders.

Ged Welch, Thierry's managing director, says: "This is a deal of mutual benefit to Thierry's and KWV as it allows us each to focus on our core strengths. We have learnt a lot from our partnership with KWV and we are delighted to continue our distribution arrangement with one of South Africa's largest and most consistent wine companies. We will continue to work closely with KWV and are proud to continue to distribute their wines in the UK."

Commercial director, Matthew Dickenson, says the deal was a result of a change of strategy within KWV and that the new shareholders look forward to growing the business.

Chief executive of KWV Ltd, Thys Loubser, says the restructuring of his company's distribution in the UK is a "win-win situation" and in line with company strategy.

Prior to selling its German subsidiary Eggers and Franke in 2007, KWV sold its UK subsidiary Edward Cavendish & Sons to Thierry's in 2006 and since then has worked closely with the Thierry's team.

"With full ownership of the business in Thierry's hands, we look forward to a focused and dedicated service provider to represent KWV's strong portfolio in the UK market," Loubser says.

Following the deal, Thierry's shareholders, Ged Welch, Matthew Dickinson, Lindsay Talas, Dominique Vrigneau and Hatim Dungarwalla, each own equal parts of the company.

"As shareholders," says Welch, "we are all very active within the business and we share a commitment to ensure that Thierry's continues to grow and thrive and a passionate belief that Thierry's is extremely well placed to ride the recession."